The World According to Ellie Quin by Alex Scarrow

The World According to Ellie Quinn is the second in a series that got off to an excellent start with The Legend of Ellie Quin. Again, this is a very engaging read that picks up immediately where the last novel left off (and I would recommend reading these in order as they’re telling a story in linear fashion). If you’ve not read these books then beware of spoilers below. If you haven’t read them and want to do so then my review of No.1 is here!

Again, a very engaging read that picks up almost immediately where the last story left off. Ellie is now living in a little apartment or pod – to be honest it’s more of a shoebox but that’s not a problem. She’s with her new friend and saviour from book No.1 Jez. Fortunately the two seem to have formed a fairly close relationship already which gives the close quarters in which they now live a more bearable feel. Ellie seems a little more secure, she has a job and the two girls seem to be doing well enough to at least enjoy a bit of night life and occasionally buy a few things other than basic necessities. They’re both having a fun girly time basically. Of course, getting too comfortable will undoubtedly lead to complacency and Ellie didn’t leave behind one home just to form another so soon – she wanted more. She wanted to travel. She certainly didn’t just want to make ends meet and eke out a living.

She still continues to meet with Aaron – which is just as well as he seems to be her anchor to reality at the moment – reminding her of her own ambitions and worrying about her fairly quick conversion to all out city chick!

At the same time we have the storyline of the Corporate suits who are trying to find Ellie – with none too friendly objectives in mind. They’ve put their best man in the case. He’s ruthless and unsympathetic and he’s narrowing the search area quite systematically and rapidly!

This is another short story but it manages to cram plenty in. There are a number of adventures with the girls as they seem to go from one drama to the next, fuelled by Jez’s love of life and big schemes until eventually their good luck runs out and they seem to hit a bit of a low.

It’s at this point that Ellie has her ‘bright idea’ – and, I’m going to leave that there.

The historical, ‘wiki’ style entries used in the previous story are used again to good effect – I really like the way these dovetail with the story and give this demonstration of how truth becomes distorted into myth – and yet somehow manages to retain a ‘little’ of what actually happened.

I’m really enjoying this series and from what I’ve read so far I think this is only going to get better. I like the mystery that is posed about Ellie. I like the adventures and the pacing and basically I’m fairly intrigued.

Again, I guess you would call this ‘soft’ sci fi but for me that feels perfect. It’s quirky, engaging and fun and I definitely recommend picking it up.

I’m really close to finishing this one and need to set aside some time from my other reading to get back to it. I’m so fond of Ellie and am happy her story is continuing. Book 4 was supposed to be out in January but it looks like that deadline is going to be missed.